Carolina Bays under study like
never before

Presentations
Coming at Conferences

March 4, 2007

Two large and
respected scientific conferences in Spring 2007 are sponsoring sessions with presentations regarding new
research into the long debated origin of Carolina
Bays. May 22-25 in Acapulco, Mexico, the American Geophysical Union Joint Assembly will have a session presenting first-time evidence of the "YD
Extraterrestrial Impact," with two related Carolina Bay presentations proposed
(one from your's truly if accepted). And
on March 29 in Savannah, Georgia, the Southeastern Section of the
American Geological Society is sponsoring a
Carolina Bay-only session. The Georgia GSA presentations will present
evidence largely in support of the prevailing view that Carolina Bays are formed
solely by terrestrial mechanisms, while the Acapulco AGU presentations will
claim bays are related to the newly described YD impact that began the end of the Ice Age.

These are exciting
times for Carolina Bay
researchers of all types! Among other highlights, Ray
Kacrzorowski -- the oft-cited terrestrial theorist of the '70s -- is making an
encore presentation in Savannah at the GSA. Bob Kobres, the keeper of the flame for
"ET" theorists, is sending an intriguing poster to Acapulco claiming evidence of a
bay that has never been a lake! And my presentation will reveal, among
others things, extraordinarily high levels of iridium in bays. Much to ponder
and look forward to this spring

The deglaciation that followed the last ice age period was
abruptly and dramatically interrupted ~12,900 years ago by
widespread cooling that marks the onset of the Younger Dryas Cool
Episode, an apparent climatic anomaly in Quaternary deglaciation
behavior. Much evidence shows that the Younger Dryas onset was
marked by abrupt changes in ice sheet configuration, diversion of
North American flood-waters to the northern Atlantic, the sudden
emptying of proglacial lakes, and the reorganization of thermohaline
circulation that may have triggered severe cooling. Nevertheless,
significant questions have recently emerged about timing and
direction of major freshwater flows to the oceans, in turn raising
questions about the triggering mechanism for the Younger Dryas. The
onset of the Younger Dryas also appears to have coincided with
massive, widespread and punctuated changes in animal biota and
Paleolithic cultural development centered in North and South
America. This is represented by the well-known extinction of the
megafauna of the Americas, including mammoths, horses and
groundsloths (the most recent of all mass extinctions) and the
termination of Clovis and certain other contemporaneous Paleolithic
human cultures. The cause of these changes is also highly
controversial and much debated, but is likely tied to the severe
environmental changes that occurred at the beginning of the Younger
Dryas. Nevertheless, some researchers consider these to be
coincidental events, while others link the two as cause and effect.
Another hypothesis attributes the extinctions to overhunting by
Clovis people and other Paleolithic hunters or to pandemics
associated with human migrations. However, all these hypotheses
appear to fall short in satisfactorily explaining much available
evidence. A new hypothesis posits that Younger Dryas cooling was
instead triggered by extraterrestrial impacts that caused ice sheet
destabilization, flood-water rediversion and changes in ocean
circulation. This work offers newly uncovered evidence for ET impact
at 12.9 ka including end-Clovis age sediments throughout North
America with high levels of Iridium, magnetic and carbon, spherules,
glass-like carbon, fullerenes, and ET noble gas ratios often in
association with carbonaceous black layers and succeeded by black
mats with unusual biota In this session, we invite abstracts that
will explore the strengths and weaknesses of existing and new
hypotheses that attempt to explain the cause of the Younger Dryas
and of associated changes in the global environmental system, the
associated extinctions, and of human cultural changes. We welcome
all abstracts exploring new perspectives on the chronology,
stratigraphic succession and potential interconnections between a
wide-range of processes that appear to have been associated with the
Younger Dryas Episode. These include abrupt climatic change,
ice-sheet deglaciation, flood-water rerouting, surficial geology,
iceberg discharge, ocean reorganization including thermohaline
circulation, and sea-level change. Also critical is the timing and
nature of major extinction, Paleolithic cultural succession and
impact-related phenomena.

Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]

PP43A ACC:Chichen-Itza Hall Thursday

New Insights Into Extraterrestrial Impacts, Younger Dryas Cooling,
Mass Extinction, and the Clovis People III: Posters

Presiding: J P Kennett Prof, Univ. of California, Santa
Barbara

PP43A-01

Evidence for an Extraterrestrial Impact Event 12,900
years ago that Contributed to Megafaunal Extinctions and the Younger Dryas
Cooling

The Younger Dryas event boundary (YDB) is a thin
sedimentary layer of 12.9 ka age containing an assemblage of materials formed
due to a major ET impact centered over northern North America. The event
coincided with the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling episode.
The YDB layer contains peaks in magnetic grains, microspherules, and iridium, in
addition to charcoal and soot that resulted from extensive wildfires. Two
impact-related carbon-rich markers, glass-like carbon and carbon spherules, have
not been reported previously in North America. Vesicular, glass-like carbon,
in pieces up to several cm, occurs in the YDB at 22 sites with concentrations
ranging up to 16 g/kg. Their glassy texture suggests melting during formation,
with some fragments grading into charcoal, and CF-IRMS analysis reveals a
composition of >70 percent carbon. One sample exhibited a strong fullerene
signature containing ET helium with a ratio of 84× that of air, comparable to
the Tagish Lake meteorite (90×). Similar glass-like carbon has been reported
from the Azuara crater in Spain (Ernstson, et al. 2001). Carbon spherules
(0.15-2.5 mm) are black, highly vesicular, low-density,
subspherical-to-spherical objects found in 18 widely distributed sites at
varying concentrations up to 1500/kg. SEM analysis shows that the spherules have
cracked and patterned surfaces, honeycombed cells, no inclusions, and sometimes
display hollow cores. SEM/EDS and microprobe analyses show the carbon spherules
to be >75 percent carbon. Similar carbon spherules are reported from the a
crater in Germany (Rösler, et al., 2005). The carbon spherules most likely are
either ablation products from the impactor or combustion products of the impact.
Sediment samples were analyzed for Ir, and YDB samples from 9 sites exhibited
elevated Ir values up to 3.75 ppb, while there was no detectable Ir above or
below the YDB. Extracted magnetic grains have values up to 117 ppb, which is 25
percent that of typical chondrites and up to 5000× crustal abundance. The YDB
layer, representing a major ET impact event at 12.9 ka, appears to coincide with
the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction and the onset of Younger Dryas
cooling. We propose that neither this cooling nor the extinction would have
occurred in the absence of this impact event.

PP43A-02

Correlation of the Late Pleistocene Usselo Horizon
(Europe) and the Clovis Layer (North America)

In 1940, a dark charcoal-rich layer, 10 to 15cm thick,
was found within the Late Pleistocene Coversands of the Netherlands, and named
the Usselo Layer (de Laag van Usselo) by its discoverer, archaeologist CCJW
Hijszeler (1902-1982). Usselo is a village near Enschedé, a few kilometres from
the Dutch-German border. Research started after the war, and publications, both
scientific and popular, came forth in the 1950s. By pollen content, the layer
was dated to the Alleröd, the last interstadial of the Würm (Wisconsin)
glaciation; radiocarbon dating indicated (pre-AMS) dates of about 11,200 14C
BP. Identification of the layer at other localities was visual, and it was found
in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, and Belarus; it was also found in the UK
and in Denmark, in which countries, however, no correlation was made with the
other occurrences. Hijszeler had found the layer all over the Netherlands and
abroad from Ostende to Hamburg, and he hypothesized the cause as a general
wildfire provoked by the eruption of an Eiffel volcano. The European geologists
and archaeologists, however, did not adopt his views and interpreted the layer
as a paleosol, vitiating the chronology by representing the layer as the result
of a long development, instead of as an eolian sediment laid down perhaps in a
day or even less that provides us with a sharp marker horizon. The prehistoric
Clovis culture of North America was found in the 1930s and dated to the
Twocreekan, the last interstadial of the Wisconsin glaciation. The Clovis layer
was especially investigated by archaeologist C.Vance Haynes Jr. Visually, the
layer is easily identifiable with the Usselo Horizon of Europe. Its
stratigraphic position is coincident with the end of the Clovis culture and with
the disappearance of the Pleistocene megafauna. In Europe, there is a clear
correlation with the sudden demise of the Magdalenian culture, best known for
the Franco-Cantabrian cave paintings, and with megafaunal extinctions such as
those of the Irish elk, the cave bear, and cave lion. Recently, Richard
Firestone and Allen West in North America have carried out an intensive field
and laboratory investigation, suspecting an extraterrestrial cause for the
extinctions and the cultural discontinuity, with the Clovis layer as the
extinction layer, an all-important witness to the catastrophe. They achieved
positive results, the most spectacular one perhaps being the iridium content,
because that element became well-known in the 1980s as an impact indicator in
the K-T boundary layer. Other results include the presence of glass-like carbon,
magnetic microspherules, and high levels of potassium-40. Being aware of the
similarities in the Late Pleistocene stratigraphical records of Europe and North
America, I contacted Firestone and West in 2005, and early in 2006 I sent them
samples of the Usselo Horizon from Lommel, Belgium. The analyses they carried
out yielded high levels of impact indicators, including magnetic grains,
metallic spherules, carbon glass, charcoal, and in the magnetic fraction, high
iridium content. These findings largely confirm the identity of the two ET
impact layers on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. Hijszeler(1957)
Geol.Mijnb.NS 19: 288-302. Haynes and Hemmings (1968) Science 159:
186-7. Wolbach, et al. (1985) Science 230: 167-170. Kloosterman (1999)
Symp. New Scenarios of Solar System Evolution, Univ.Bergamo. (Abstract
2002). Kloosterman (2000) De Laag van Usselo, de Wereldbrand en de Verdwijntruc.
Bres 201: 63-74. Kloosterman (2006) "De Komeetinslag van 13.000 jaar
geleden." Frontier Mag. 12/1: 44- 45. Firestone, et al. (2006) The
Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes. Bear and Co., Rochester, Vermont.

Recent evidence suggests an extraterrestrial
contribution to the End Pleistocene extinctions. Sediments at the base of a
carbon-rich, dark layer dating to ~12.9 ka contain magnetic grains,
microspherules, elevated Ir, fullerenes with abundant 3He, and other
evidence consistent with extraterrestrial impact [1]. To test the possibility
that combustion of the impactor, carbon-bearing rocks, or biomass could have
been triggered by the impact (as hypothesized at the End Cretaceous 65 Ma ago
[2]), we searched for soot in a variety of Clovis-age sites marked by this dark
layer in North America, Germany, and Belgium. Thirty-eight samples from the
following North American sites were studied: Carolina Bays at Blackville and
Myrtle Beach, SC; Murray Springs, AZ; Chobot Site, Alberta, Canada; Blackwater
Draw, Clovis, NM; Glacial Lake Hind, Manitoba, Canada; Daisy Cave, San Miguel
Channel Island, Santa Barbara. Four samples from the Usselo Horizon in
Schleswig-Holstein and one sample from Lommel, Belgium were also analyzed.
Dissolution and analysis procedures were based on those used successfully for
detecting soot from impact- produced wildfires at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T)
boundary [3, 4, 5]. Reduced carbon was isolated from sediments using HCl and
HCl/HF. Elemental carbon was separated from organic carbon by acidic dichromate
oxidation. Any remaining minerals were removed from carbonaceous residues using
sodium metatungstate density separation. The elemental carbon of interest (soot)
was identified and characterized using SEM imaging and quantified by weighing
and particle size analysis. Two of the samples contained significant quantities
of soot: Murray Springs, AZ, with a soot content of 21 ± 5 ppm; and Carolina
Bay, Blackville, SC, with a soot content of 1969 ± 167 ppm. None of the
remaining End Pleistocene samples studied showed significant soot contents.
Negative results do establish that surface contamination by soot was not a
problem, even though some sample locations were undoubtedly close to automobile
traffic or possible natural biomass fires. The magnitude and location of the End
Pleistocene bolide is unknown and so it is impossible to predict the magnitude
of any fires triggered by the impact. The presence of significant soot, however,
especially the large amount at the Carolina Bay, suggests that significant
burning at the very least occurred near that location ~12.9 ka ago. The fire
that produced the observed soot might have been regional, or perhaps soot was
initially deposited at additional sites but simply not preserved. These
questions will be addressed by analyzing more End Pleistocene samples. [1]
Firestone R.B., West A., Kennett J.P., Becker L., Bunch T.E., et al.,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, submitted. [2] Wolbach W. S.,
Lewis R. S., and Anders E. (1985) Science 230, 167-170. [3] Wolbach W.S.,
Gilmour I., Anders E., Orth C.J., and Brooks R.R. (1988) Nature 334, 665-669.
[4] Wolbach W.S. and Anders E. (1989) Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53,
1637-1647. [5] Wolbach W.S., Gilmour I., and Anders E. (1990) In: Global
Catastrophes in Earth History (eds. V.L. Sharpton and P. Ward). Geological
Society of America Special Paper 247, 391-400.

PP43A-04

Did a Bolide Impact Trigger the Younger Dryas and
Wipe Out American Megafauna? A Skeptic's Reaction to an Intriguing Hypothesis.

Perhaps there is credible physical evidence of a bolide
impact in North America at 12,900 cal BP. However, several incongruous aspects
of the paleoclimatic, archaeological, and faunal records of the Terminal
Pleistocene must be addressed to allay skepticism about the hypothesis of
dramatic effects upon humans or megafauna: 1) Paleoindian populations (e.g.,
Folsom, Dalton) thrived after the Younger Dryas (YD) onset; 2) megafauna,
including giant sloths were wiped out in Florida, but medium-sized sloths in the
Caribbean islands (including Cuba) survived into the mid-Holocene; 3) South
American megafauna survived until at least 12,500 cal BP, probably longer; why
was there not a synchronous extinction? 4) Late Pleistocene cold reversals in
Antarctica and southern South America are not synchronous with the YD; 5) Bison
and grizzly survived, and elk and moose expanded into North America in the
Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene; why did they survive and thrive? 6)
Mammoths survived on Wrangel Island and probably in pockets in Siberia well into
the Holocene; why did the supposed impact in the Arctic not wipe them out? 7)
Finally, the YD ended at 11,590 cal BP even more abruptly than it began (over
less than a decade); does this require another impact? If not, why does the YD
onset call for an extraterrestrial trigger?

The extinction risks of Clovis-era mammoths and
mastodons in North America may be roughly estimated in two ways: One method of
estimating total numbers relies on the average density of related modern
analogues, such as living elephants, and is based on the maximum extent of
occurrence (the "range") of each extinct taxon examined. A second method of
estimating populations roughly converts fossil record counts to population size
based on documented "live-to-dead" ratios derived from actualistic studies of
related modern taxa. The total number of megamammals alive just before
extinction was probably surprisingly low.

* Erlandson, J M (jerland@uoregon.edu), Museum of
Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224,
United States
Kennett, D J (dkennett@uoregon.edu), Department of Anthropology, University of
Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1228, Eugene, OR 97403-1218, United States
Kennett, J (kennett@geology.ucsb.edu), Department of Geological Sciences,
University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
Braje, T (tbraje@uoregon.edu), Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon,
Eugene, OR 97403-1228, Eugene, OR 97403-1218, United States
Culleton, B (bculleto@uoregon.edu), Department of Anthropology, University of
Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1228, Eugene, OR 97403-1218, United States

Despite decades of intensive study and debate, no
consensus has been reached on what caused the extinction of North America's
mammalian megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene. In a scholarly standoff,
prominent scientists have shown that neither "human overkill" or "climate
change" models adequately account for the patterns found in the paleontological
and archaeological records of North America. The Younger Dryas ET Impact theory
may dramatically alter this debate, adding a catastrophic trigger to help
explain the rapid extinction of many large mammals about 12,900 years ago. New
data suggest that an extraterrestrial impact focused in northern and eastern
North America may have devastated the megafauna through: (1) direct mortality
caused by the impacts shock wave, debris, and massive wildfires; (2) dramatic
reduction of terrestrial food supplies, rapid climatic change, and ecological
reorganization; and (3) coup-de-grace effects of surviving human populations
rapidly expanding after the impact.

The earliest archaeological record from California shows
a dramatic unconformity or cultural hiatus between the terminal Pleistocene and
the early Holocene. Clovis-like fluted projectile points which mark initial
human colonization ca. 13,300-12,900 cal BP, are relatively common and have been
found throughout the state, but almost exclusively as isolates. Early Holocene
sites are abundant as well, particularly on the coast where at least 23 deposits
show occupation as old as ca. 10,000-9000-cal BP. Only one of these, Daisy Cave,
extends back into the terminal Pleistocene, but the remainder mark occupations
that began only at the onset of the Holocene. There are almost no archaeological
sites in California that date between 12,900 and 10,300 cal BP or that exhibit
superimposed terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene components. This pattern is
consistent with a significant disruptive event during the Younger-Dryas.

PP43A-08

Changes in Paleoindian Projectile Point Densities as
Possible Evidence of a Clovis Demographic Collapse in the Southeastern U.S.

* Goodyear, A C (goodyear@sc.edu), University of
South Carolina, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Columbia, SC 29208, United States
West, A (allen7633@aol.com), GeoScience Consulting, P.O.Box 1636, Dewey, AZ
86327, United States

Recent evaluation by the author of the South Carolina
Paleoindian point database indicates the substantial presence of a suspected
Middle Paleoindian point historically known as Redstone (Cambron and Hulse,
1964; Mason, 1962; Perino, 1968; Williams and Stoltman, 1965). Because of recent
discoveries in South Carolina of large fluted points typical of the Redstone, it
became clear that the Redstone had a straight to trianguloid blade configuration
from the earliest stage of its use life. Lanceolates with extremely long
prominent flutes heretofore had been classified as Clovis (Charles and Michie,
1992; Goodyear et al., 1990; Michie, 1977). Accordingly, a review of all fluted
points yielded a total of 48 Redstones that had previously been misclassified as
Clovis. Reclassifying the South Carolina database resulted in approximately four
Clovis points for every one Redstone. Using Clovis and Redstone fluted points
made from coastal plain Allendale-type chert and high-quality metavolcanics, a
total of 179 Clovis were found versus 40 Redstones (4.5 to 1). Within the
Allendale chert cases, 115 were Clovis versus 24 Redstone (4.8 to 1). Within
metavolcanics, it was 64 Clovis versus 16 Redstones (4 to 1). Assuming Redstones
date from 10,800 to 10,500 RCYBP, and Clovis dates from 11,300 to 10,900 RCYBP,
a precipitous decline in post-Clovis fluted points is indicated. No other
Paleoindian points are known for this area of the Southeast to fill in this time
period, since Daltons presumably began later around 10,500 RCYBP (Goodyear
1982). For the Allendale County region of South Carolina, there are an estimated
20 Dalton points for every Redstone. This apparent decline in Redstone
projectile points occurs during the Younger Dryas, a time thought to be colder
and dryer than Clovis times, and therefore, less hospitable. The strong presence
of Dalton points throughout the Southeast would suggest any demographic problems
were ameliorating by Dalton times. As a cross-check on the South Carolina
database, the North Carolina Paleoindian point survey was also reclassified
searching for Redstones. It resulted in a Clovis to Redstone ratio of 3 to 1
(Daniel and Goodyear, 2006). This pattern of a high Clovis to Redstone ratio
apparently is not restricted to the Carolinas. In his survey of the Nottaway
River drainage in southeast Virginia, McAvoy (1992) found a dramatic post-Clovis
drop in what he calls deep concave based fluted points and sites. He postulates
a major population reduction in this region after Clovis times. For the entire
Virginia data base, Johnson (1996) notes that the proportion of concave base to
presumably Clovis points is 11 percent. Based on these results, more attention
should be paid to a possible post-Clovis, pre-Dalton decline in Paleoindian
points in the Southeast, and perhaps elsewhere, to determine the archaeological
reality of this suggested pattern.

PP43A-09

Mammoths and Humans as Late Pleistocene
Contemporaries on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California.

AMS radiocarbon dating of a pygmy mammoth (Mammuthus
exilis) thoracic vertebra and associated charcoal has provided evidence for
the contemporaneity of the pygmy mammoth and early human remains on Santa Rosa
Island, Channel Islands National Park, California. Charcoal associated with the
vertebra dated 11,010 ±70 RC yr B.P. (B-133594). That date was significantly
close to the extinction date for continental mammoths to warrant a date directly
on the bone. The vertebral centrum was drilled and submitted for bone collagen
dating by Stafford. The resultant date was 11,030 ±50 RC yr. B P (CAMS-71697),
only 20 14C years older than the charcoal date. The significance of
the dates was immediately apparent, because a date from human remains from the
Arlington Springs Site (CA-SRI-173), Santa Rosa Island was 10,960 ±80 RC yr B.P.
(CAMS-16810) (Johnson et al., 1999) - a date nearly identical with the M.
exilis measurement. The contemporaneity of the mammoth bone date and human
bone date indicates that mammoths were still extant on the islands when humans
arrived. These data are from only one mammoth and one human ... more research
needs to be done on the mammoth and human remains on the island. Was the
contemporaneity coincidence, or the prelude to extinction?

The Carolina Bays are a group of lakes, wetlands, and
depressions, stretching from Florida to New Jersey along the Atlantic Ocean, and
ranging up to 11 km in length and about 15 m in depth. Their distinctive
elliptical shapes and common orientation towards the Great Lakes region have
generated many hypotheses about their method of formation, including
extraterrestrial impact (Melton and Schriever, 1933; Prouty, 1934). Another
suggests that springs or groundwater dissolution of soluble minerals caused
subsidence, which formed water-filled depressions that became the Bays (Johnson,
D.W., 1944). One of the prevailing views is that Carolina Bays represent
irregular lakes that were gradually reshaped into ellipses by circulating lake
currents, generated by strong ice-age winds blowing perpendicular to the current
long axes of the Bays (Kaczorowski, 1977). We report results from a suite of
cores taken from within a Bay, which we have named "Howard Bay," located about 2
km north of the town of Duart in Bladen County, North Carolina. Located on the
high western bluff of the Cape Fear River, the Bay is 2.7 km long, 1.6 km wide,
and filled with about 9 meters of sediment with an encircling rim that is
~1-meter high. Analyses of seven cores along the long axis of Howard Bay reveal
an assemblage of abundant magnetic grains, microspherules, carbon spherules,
glass-like carbon, and iridium, typical of the YDB impact layer (12.9 ka) at
many other sites across North America. The impact layer conforms to the basal
contours of the basin, suggesting that the markers were deposited immediately or
soon after the Bay formed. Further analyses of samples in complete core
sequences reveal that, unlike typical, peat-rich Carolina Bays, Howard Bay
essentially lacks peat, diatoms, pollen, or other organic materials, suggesting
that this Bay never stored water for any sustained length of time. Furthermore,
several trenches confirm that the deepest part of the Bay is filled with >6 m of
cross-bedded eolian sand with no evidence of lacustrine sedimentation. This
evidence calls into question prevailing hypotheses (a) that all Bays were lakes
and ponds in the past and that their shapes were formed by wave action, or (b)
that groundwater movement led to subsidence that formed the Bay. The presence of
impact markers, including high concentrations of iridium, in a layer just above
the basal sediments of this Bay that is filled with eolian sand supports the
extraterrestrial impact hypothesis for Bay formation.